Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister) turned down a chance to play James Bond

Game of Thrones star Charles Dance had a shot at playing James Bond, but he opted to turn it down. Good decision? Bad decision?

To Game of Thrones fans, Charles Dance will forever be Tywin Lannister, the implacable patriarch of the Lannister family. But if he had made a few different choices early in his career, things could have been very different.

Speaking to Financial Times, Dance revealed that he was once offered an opportunity to audition for the part of James Bond, 007 himself. “My agent at the time rang me — it was a hot July day — and she said, ‘It’s happened, darling.’ And I said, ‘What’s happened?’ She said, ‘You’ve been asked to test for Bond,’” Dance recalled.

"I said, ‘Really?’ She said, ‘I urge you not to do it.’ I said, ‘Why is that?’ She said, ‘One, well, think how you’ll feel if you don’t get it, and, two, I think it will limit your career.’"

Hmm…is that bad advice? Should you council your client to refuse a chance to play a character as iconic as James Bond? Discuss.

For Dance’s part, he thinks his agent may have been looking out for him. “I had not nearly enough experience for something like that, and I would have f***ed it up … if I’d got the part. It’s a big thing.”

This happened in the ’80s, when MGM was looking for someone to replace Roger Moore, who played Bone for seven movies. By that point, Dance had actually already on the series already — he played the henchman Claus is 1981’s For Your Eyes Only — but was mostly known for TV work, including a role in the acclaimed miniseries The Jewel in the Crown.

Also, he looked like this, for context:

Eventually the role went to Timothy Dalton, who lasted two movies before Pierce Brosnan came in.

It definitely would have been cool to see Dance as Bond, but if he got the role, it’s possible he would have been too big to play Tywin, and our lives would all be a little dimmer for that.

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